Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #09115
To: beam@sgiblab.sgi.com
From: Bob Shannon bshannon@tiac.net
Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 22:37:52 -0500
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: Photovore Performance?
"Dye, Roy" wrote:
> What performance, in terms of time to charge and popping distance, could
> one expect from a typical solar powered photovore?
>
> I have just built my first photovore utilizing a 1381SE, 3766 solar
> cell, and two pager motors from Solarbotics. It takes about 20s on my
> workbench to charge and it moves about an inch per pop. In direct noon
> sunlight, it fires about every 2 seconds. Is this typical?
>
> Roy
That depends.
Is your workbench kinda dark?? How big are the caps?
More importantly, how far apart are your wheels? The side to side distance
between wheels, and the forward distance traveled have a big effect as well.
At a guess, I'd suspect your using pager motors, and at least 4,700 uf,
right?
Probably using J triggers as well, or something different?
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